If you are a veteran, or know a veteran, of one of these campaigns – contact Don Patton at cell 612-867-5144 or coldpatton@yahoo.com

Tuesday, 11 January 2022 35:06 Volume 35 Number 6 Published by WWII History Round Table Written by Dr. Connie Harris www.mn-ww2roundtable.org Welcome to the January session of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War II History Round Table. Tonight’s speakers are James Kelly Morningstar, author of Patton’s Way, and Jim Sudmeier, author of Patton’s Madness. They will discuss the complex legacy of one of World War II’s greatest generals.

Tonight’s presentation examines deeper questions: to what extent does one man make history; and the nature of leadership. Radical historians look to the common men, Marxist historians to forces (the “revolution”), and Whig historians to the big men and big institutions. Most people, trying to understand the past, figure that even in a global war, single individuals making sometimes small choices, can have significant impact (e.g., Claus von Stauffenberg at Wolfschanze, or Eisenhower giving the go ahead for the Normandy landings despite the weather forecasts).

In warfare, leadership is essential to overcoming the enemy. Clausewitz asserts that two qualities are “indispensable” in any successful leader. First, “an intellect that, even in the darkest hour” seeks the truth; and second, courage to follow this truth. Studies of successful senior military leadership traits indicate that the leader must be capable of providing a sense of purpose and understanding to their command, a sense of vision. An army study of the characteristics of successful combat leaders concluded that leader consistently exhibited a superb sense for terrain, “single-minded tenacity, ferocious audacity, physical confidence, and practical practiced judgement.” Boiling down all the philosophy and studies great leadership can be defined by one word. AUDACITY.

George Smith Patton grew up as the only son of a wealthy patrician family from California. He devoured books despite difficulty learning to read and repeated his plebe year at West Point after failing mathematics. He graduated in 1909, 46th in a class of 103. His was the world of country clubs, polo grounds, and yachts. A man of great culture and learning, he could spew obscenities like the “bluest” of sailor or army grunt, even in the presence of world dignitaries. Patton served as Pershing’s aide-de-camp in Mexico, and commanded troop C, 13th Cavalry.

During World War I, Patton, wounded while serving in the US Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Force, became an expert in

armored warfare. Like many career soldiers, he spent the inter-war period in reflection and developing new strategies. Patton and Dwight Eisenhower became friends while stationed together at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania. There, they developed ideas about the use of the tanks and their usefulness beyond infantry support, and each published an article in Infantry Journal on the subject, much to the ire of their superiors. They also discussed how wars are fought and won. For Patton it was all about leadership, but Eisenhower believed in not overlooking the more mundane aspects of warfare like logistics or alliances.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Patton served two tours in Hawaii, attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, and commanded various cavalry units. When George C. Marshall because the Army Chief of Staff (on 1 September 1939), he began with some house cleaning. He created a “plucking committee” of retired Generals who recommend the retirement of older generals, allowing Marshall to promote men he thought overlooked; Patton was one of these men.

When World War II began in Europe, the US began the slow process of mobilization in the face of strong isolationist sentiment. The army held massive war games in 1940 and in 1941 and Patton played a key role in the “red army” planning and led its armored thrust against the “blue army,” whose chief of staff, Colonel Eisenhower, had anticipated Patton’s move. Both men had a place in Gen. George Marshall’s “black book” of future leaders. When the US did enter the war, Patton helped to plan the invasion of North Africa, and replaced MG Lloyd Fredendall as commander of II Corps. His star rose quickly thereafter with success in Sicily though controversy surrounded his striking of two “shell-shocked” soldiers. Rehabilitated, he commanded the fake army of OPERATION FORTITUDE and then led the Third US Army across France into Germany. His G-2 (intelligence) chief, Col. Oscar Koch, forecast the German advance that would threaten Third Army’s flank and Patton was able to plan a counterattack into the German flank and execute it – using verbal movement orders! Third Army was that good.

Patton was egotistical, temperamental, and failed to comprehend the political aspects of generalship. He was the best combat commander the American army had – not merely as a tactician and master of the operational arts, but as a strategist as well. Carlo D’Este flatly stated that Patton had “a genius of war,” able to both visualize an operation and to clearly communicate that vision to his staff, who despite Omar Bradley’s condescension, was probably the most

The Round Tablette 11 January 2022 — 2

See our programs on YouTube at http://youtube.com/ww2hrt.

effective commander-staff team in the US Army in 1944-1945. Patton also could motivate men and build esprît de corps. He provided clear statements of his intent to his staff and subordinate commands; his staff issued clear orders, and his subordinate commanders executed those orders effectively. While the question of to what extent the times – history – made these men, and to what extent they made history can be argued indefinitely; the fact remains that George S. Patton was indispensable to an allied victory.

FURTHER READINGS: James Kelly Morningstar, author of Patton’s Way: A Radical Theory of War (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2017). Jim Sudemeier, Patton’s Madness; The Dark Side of a Battlefield Genius. (Guilford CT: Stackpole Books, 2017). Martin Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945 (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1994) Cole C. Kingseed, Old Glory Stories: American Combat Leadership in World War II (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2016). Carlo D'Este, Patton: Genius for War (New York: Harper Collins, 1996). A J. Furman Daniel III, Patton: Battling with History (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2020). John Nelson Rickard, Advance and Destroy; Patton as a Commander in the Bulge (Louisville, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2011) John Nelson Rickard, Patton At Bay: The Lorraine Campaign, 1944 (Washington DC: Potomac Books, 2004) Harry Yeide, Fighting Patton: George S. Patton Jr. Through the Eyes of his Enemies (Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press, 2011) Announcements: Twin Cities Civil War Round Table – 19 Jan. 2022 –Confederate Raid on St. Albans, VT – www.tccwrt.com - info@tccwrt.com St. Croix Valley Civil War Round Table – 27 Jan. 2022 – Queen City’s Revenge - 715-386-1268 - rossandhaines@comcast.net Military History Book Club, Har Mar Barnes & Noble - TBD - sdaubenspeck52@gmail.com Minnesota Military Museum, Camp Ripley, 15000 Hwy 115, Little Falls, MN 56345 - 320-616-6050 - http://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org/ Minnesota Air Guard Museum - 612-713-2523 - www.mnangmuseum.org 8th AF Historical Society of MN, KC Hall Bloomington, Wednesdays at 1130 - https://www.8thmn.org. Friends of Ft. Snelling - www.fortsnelling.org World Without Genocide - 651-695-7621 - http://www.worldwithoutgenocide.org/ Fagen Fighters WWII Museum, Granite Falls, MN - Air show - 2022 - 320-564-6644 - http://www.fagenfighterswwiimuseum.org. Wings of the North Airshow - Eden Prairie – 22-24 July 2022 - 952-746-6100 - www.wotn.org Alliance Française 612-332-0436 - www.afmsp.org Selim Center for Lifelong Learning, UST, https://www.stthomas.edu/selimcenter/ Western Naval Historical Association info@wnha.net Honor Flight - Jerry Kyser - 651-338-2717 - crazyjerry45@hotmail.com CAF - Commemorative Air Force - 651-455-6942 -www.cafmn.org

We need volunteers to drive our veterans to and from meetings. Please contact Don Patton at cell 612-867-5144 or coldpatton@yahoo.com

Round Table Schedule 2022 8 Feb. Wake Island 8 Mar. Nuremburg Trials – Goering 22 Mar. Aid to Downed Air Crews 12 Apr. Doolittle Raid 10 May Last Battle: in the Alps

The Round Table is a 501.c.3 non-profit. We would greatly appreciate your

supporting the HCDWW2RT.

Solid: advance in 1944, stripes, advance in 1945

(US Third Army, G-3 Historical Section, 1945)

Patton, Bourg, France 1918, Patton, Brolo, Italy 1943 Renault tank.